Hijack: Draw a Blank

July 4, 2023 10:55 AM - Season 1, Episode 3

As the UK's counter terrorism unit learns of flight KA29, Sam gets involved in a risky plan to take on the hijackers.
posted by ellieBOA (10 comments total)

Blanks can still gravely injure or kill, especially at the ranges you’re going to get in an airplane. And I very didn’t buy the explanation that they probably had blanks. But the thing with “Does it look like A or B?” was good and tense.

These hijackers do a lot of stupid shit. Why not have a magazine of live rounds so you don’t have to trade them out one by one? Why close the bathroom doors? Why not have a plan for feeding the passengers? I hope the reason will eventually be that they were blackmailed or otherwise roped into it.

Overall, though, good episode. The other passengers have enough agency that Sam doesn’t have to do everything, but he’s still very much in the thick of everything. The looong shot at the end kinda felt like cheating though.
posted by Etrigan at 11:13 AM on July 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm kinda mildly curious if they'll ever get around to demands and such or if that's going to be purposely kind of left up in the air. I mean, I'm kind of thankful it's not just dem der terrists or the IRA or whatever. At least so far.
posted by Kyol at 7:22 PM on July 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

(also, I mildly annoyed my wife by noting that the round the kid found in the bathroom was a blank all the way back in the first episode.)
posted by Kyol at 7:25 PM on July 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

(I just figured it was a mistake by the prop people rather than intentional.)
posted by Etrigan at 8:10 PM on July 4, 2023

When there was enough chaos that the front-of-plane hijackers headed to the back, I started yelling "GET BACK IN THE COCKPIT" at the pilot. I mean, if he locked himself in, contacted air traffic control, and landed at the first possible opportunity...well, I guess that would cut the series short. But that would be my plan 1A, to be executed if it turned out that causing a disturbance at the back of the plane drew the presence/attention of the people at the front of the plane. The pilot can bring his girlfriend in with him, since threatening her is apparently the step that overrides all other common sense. (The show is being pretty explicit that the options here are that either the hijackers hurt a few people trying to ensure the pilot's compliance OR everyone dies because somebody's military shoots the plane down.)

I feel like I've seen enough British shows to assume that the unbothered home secretary is behind the straight-to-voicemail hijackers.
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:11 AM on July 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

When the hijackers went straight to voicemail a voice inside me said "decoy". They've been given only blanks because they're sacrificial mooks. Then it was shown that at least one of them was given live rounds, and maybe not... but still.
posted by kandinski at 2:26 PM on July 6, 2023

As Sam explained, no one hijacks a plane with blank bullets, what would be the point? But apparently these guys did which makes the pseudo hijacking part of a bigger plot. They could still be sacrificial, they’re not well trained or that bright, just one guy had a plan B and brought live rounds. He turned on the WiFi to make the call, did he turn it off again afterwards?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:48 PM on July 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also! it's now x hours into the flight when they were originally scheduled to take over the plane... but no demands yet. They are still on course (they think) for London. I guess the demands will be the next episode's script and Sam's negotiating skills will kick into high gear.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:22 PM on July 7, 2023

Sam's negotiating skills will kick into high gear.

well. Schrodinger's cat, er, messy house after a vacation, uh, not-blank gun shot on his general well being until next week.

I'm trying to decide what I think is more likely - did the leader shoot at the plane, at Sam, or at the other hijacker? I like the Dark Knight sacrificial mook idea but I'll be impressed if the plane or Sam don't have complete plot armor.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 4:54 PM on July 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

(that is, if either can be damaged/injured. Presumable neither is removed from the plot only 3 episodes in)
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:05 PM on July 7, 2023